The Dance of Dragonite
by Theonrouge
Summary: Kanto and Johto face an ancient enemy, their own peoples. The dragons clash in the air and in the midst of it all a snowstorm changes the day Ash begins his journey as a pokemon trainer. Characters are aged up, rated M just to be safe.
1. Prologue

**i dont own pokemon but if i did this is basically what the episodes would be like, pokemon in their full badassery displayed to the world.**

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Prologue

The wind tore at him with its sharp fury. Every wing beat pushing them through the air sent a jarring sensation through his body, breaking him slowly and steadily.

He turned his head around hoping he would find that his enemy a good distance away. Instead he found more outlines dotted the horizon than before, a few larger and a few smaller. His head was always clearer above the clouds and it wasn't lost on him that they were getting closer.

Ahead of him was the sun, bright and blinding for anyone who dared look at it too long, at least that was what he was hoping was the case for his pursuers. More likely though, was that they had other teams intercepting him from lower altitudes and that this was another pointless attempt at shaking off his devoted assailants.

A screeching sound pierced his ears, and looking towards its direction he saw another flyer swooping down to meet them, its wings tucked, and cruel beak aimed straight towards location they would be in a few seconds from now. _Pharaoh_ was just barely able to alter course saving them from a gruesome goring.

Another turn… they were boxing him in. Right now he could register clearly at least three were ridden flying types behind him. Every other assailant in the sky was a riderless Pokémon, attempting to score a hit or at least guide his movements towards certain specific directions. They were doing their parts quite well, none of his "guides" had managed a proper hit but they were tiring him and limiting his options for possible escape routes.

Rex pointed a shaky finger to the cloud where he wanted to head in next. Once inside he'd stall for a short amount of time, then the rider and the pidgeot would have to dive. Getting to the ground was the priority. It was risky, and expected of by their pursuers but no other plans formed in his slowly panicking mind. Death by fearow beak wasn't a pleasant thought.

 _ **Deep breaths… Deep breaths…**_

Contrary to what people who've never flown might think, a cloud couldn't be blown away just because a flying type blows wind at it. A cloud isn't just fog, and hence unobtrusive to anything but the eyes, it impairs most of the other senses as well, like a giant blanket snuffing the life out of you.

Fire sheared through the cloud and cut a clear path no less than ten meters above where _Pharaoh_ and Rex were hovering. He hadn't seen any Pokémon with them capable of fire type attacks. This could be bad, he counted on them using close combat tactics and coming into the cloud itself before he could give them the slip. This fire type made it so that all they needed to do was bide time and fire aimlessly to get lucky.

Rex made himself as small as possible on his light saddle straddling the large raptor like bird. On that signal _Pharaoh_ tucked his wings and dived. The damp humidity inside the cloud was replaced by a much warmer and lighter air rushing against them with as they fell.

The seconds ticked by. Rex couldn't see the ground approaching, yet he could feel it. And just before it got too close, _Pharaoh_ would right himself. With a human on his back his movements wouldn't be as crisp as without but experience had to count for something.

But Rex never felt the jarring effect of changing directions when at terminal velocity. Instead it was the horrible sensation of burning ice cutting through _Pharaoh's_ wings making him give a pained screech before reaching the human's back. The sheer shock must have knocked him out because he never felt the ground greet them.

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What he was feeling and what he was seeing, he never thought there would be so much disparity between the two. He was seeing multiple hazy hands pulling him off of his saddle on top of a crumpled up bird the size of a small car. Yet he couldn't feel a thing. He was seeing his legs dragged underneath him, and his arms bloody and bruised and still he could feel nothing.

They had landed in a forest, that was clear. You couldn't see anything past a dozen meters because of how many trees there were. And the air was damp but cool on his skin.

Maybe he should have been closing his eyes. But he couldn't do that either. The unknown figures were moving over the large bird, tearing away at multiple objects that they viewed and then discarded.

The surprise of the slap to the face was the first coherent feeling he got after the fall.

One of them was standing over him with an unreadable look on his face. His hair was dull and greying, but long enough to fall to his shoulders. His nose, his jaw, his eyes all were sharp. Cold and calculating. Not far behind him was an armored bird with similar features. The downed courier couldn't work out which was the more dangerous of the two.

"How many others left with you?" The tall man asked.

Rex was lost on what he was talking about and that most likely showed up on his face. His questioner slightly grimaced at his expression, then sighed and with a flippant wave of his hand gestured the men holding him towards a skarmory.

They were going to kill him.

"No, please let me go." He all but screamed turning his head a towards his captors. Struggling for all he was worth. "My pack should have enough loot for a small fortune." this time he said it more calmly. They didn't care, strong hands dragged his body in the direction of the metal raptor.

He turned to _Pharaoh's_ broken body, his wings had been pried open and the ice had caused their crash had been smashed to reveal all the things they were transporting.

Tears were welling up as he looked at his fallen companion. They had flown together for many years and in the end they were done in by bandits. But he couldn't let that cloud his judgement right now.

"You mistake our operation here." Another man replied. This time it was a younger man, or maybe a boy. He couldn't have been much older than twenty. "We aren't looking for money.", He said with an easy look about him. "Doesn't mean we won't take it though" he said walking towards the grey haired man while chuckling.

"No. NO, NO." he struggled more, trying to free himself and struggling like a madman

Fear gripped him more than any other feeling in moment of hesitation, and with the strength that fear gave him, he freed one of his hands.

With it he ripped out the pokéball tied to his neck.

In a brilliant flash of white light his companion materialised in front of him. His form was a hulking giant. Almost four metres tall at his massive horn, the rhydon dwarfed every other living being in the vicinity and he knew it. He let out a vicious roar that sent Pokémon for miles a shiver down their spines.

The man he had pushed away was retreating already, a Pokéball ready at his side. The other one was not so lucky.

Stunned and scared, he could only stare as _Smaul_ observed his surroundings. The man was smacked with a gigantic fist, heavier than him with enough force that he flew straight into the nearest tree and fell deathly limp. Rex could knew that his internal organs had been turned to mush.

With a Pokémon out he had a chance to observe his situation. His own right leg was definitely broken, and his lungs were struggling too much with breathing for them to be in good condition.

Even with the fearsome goliath to his side though he wasn't sure he was in a much better position than before.

The skarmory was rising to it's full height now, armor glimmering even in the relatively dark surrounding under the canopy. It's eyes were fixed on the rhydon and not even slightly interested in the human who had summoned him. _Smaul_ for his part was doing much the same although he was also slowly turning his head towards every other threat.

There were five people left in total.

A weepinbell materialised beside the captor who had escaped _Smaul's_ fury. It vines were burrowing into the ground already.

The youth was smiling from ear to ear, a pokéball in his right hand while the other hovered over his belt.

The grey haired man from before, hadn't been phased. The face he wore now was much the same as before. His eyes were a bit more wary but his face still held the same unreadable expression as he backed away a good distance so that he was clear of any danger to his person.

The fourth person was a woman, her hair was a deep blue. She was taller than every one of them he observed. Ironic considering that the poliwhirl beside her was the smallest pokemon out of the bunch.

The last was a fairly common looking man with brown hair and wary eyes. The hitmonlee materialised beside him held the same expression as his trainer.

Rex was stuck in the middle of an angry skarmory and four remorseless killers.

Another moment passed as the people and pokemon in the small clearing of the forest weighed their situations.

The steel bird was the first to attack, viciously leaping towards the rhydon's head with it's claws a more metallic coloured sheen than before.

Rhydon raised his arm with practiced ease, catching the attack with his left and smacking into the caught raptor with his right.

The vines from the weepinbell sprung from the ground all around him gripping his legs in place. The poliwhirl took its chance, and a savage gout of water hit _Smaul's_ side.

 _Smaul_ wasn't pleased with that one. He made that clear as he freed one leg through strength alone, smashing it to the ground and causing a spike of earth to smash into the small water type.

Next he moved onto the Weepinbell, with one free fist, he clawed off the vines on his legs.

The Skarmory was looking for this opportunity and it once again pounced on the massive dual ground/rock type its claws raking the arm that had retaliated against it before backing off.

"Behind you!" the goliath's trainer yelled as the hitmonlee finally made a move, jumping and then kicking the back of _Smaul's_ head. Before he could back off though, _Smaul_ grabbed one of his carelessly long legs, and turning around with his full force, smashed the fighting type to the ground. It was clearly out cold, were that a human, his body would have become paste on the forest floor. A red beam of light engulfed it and it disappeared.

There was no time to celebrate however as a silver beam of energy collided into his back, clearly staggering him. The skarmory was switching to long range attacks now and changing his position with each shot so as not to become a stationary target.

The weepinbell's vines were still restricting _Smaul_ and he wasn't able to summon any defence besides his arms as more beams of steel type energy smashed into him.

"The Weepingbell, focus on it." Rex heard himself say and on cue, _Smaul_ made his attack fully disregarding the Skarmory in favour of charging at the grass type.

At the command of it's trainer, the pokémon dropped its vines and rushed to the side, avoiding being impaled by a spike of rock that jutted from the ground the moment _Smaul's_ full focus was on him.

The skarmory once again made it's presence known, this time heading for straight for target that was limping behind the goliath of a Pokémon. Rex felt his blood curdle as it shot towards him beak ready to pierce through his weak human body. Although much slower on the ground than when in flight, the beast was still much much faster than either the injured human or the heavy rock type.

Rex knew he had to move, but his body was still mostly unresponsive, standing up itself had taken a toll on him, pushing aside the grunt itself had been an impossible feat. But he didn't want to die.

He didn't want to die.

With another motion of his leg, _Smaul_ caused a wall of earth taller than him to erupt out of the ground. It was a hasty defense but it gave him enough time to jump or atleast fall to his right side. The Skarmory broke through the wall without issue but it missed its target.

It missed its chance.

 _Smaul_ changed focus once more, and ignoring the razor sharp leaves the Weepinbell was throwing his way, he made to grab the Skarmory that attempted to skewer his human. But it backed off once more, retreating to the grey haired man's side.

 _Smaul_ was completely devoted to defense now, and he summoned more and more walls of earth to protect his human companion.

This had been their plan all along.

If they had decided to kill him at the start of the battle, they could. But then they would have to deal with a rampaging rhydon the size of a tyranitar.

They took the smarter route, damaging the actual threat while it was on the defensive for it's trainer. And when it took sufficient damage they they could go all out without worrying about as threatening of a retaliation.

 _Smaul_ was getting worn out. Rex could see where repetitive water and steel type attacks had marred the thick hide, a few managing to punch through it and cause internal damage.

The blue haired girl and the hitmonlee's trainer had brought out replacements. A golduck and a tangela, working in tandem with one another.

The grass types were completely devoted to restraining _Smaul_ while the golduck peppered him with water type attacks.

Rex had tried to reach the ground because he knew rhydon was his trump card, an absolute beast that had no right being the Pokémon of a simple courier. A fight on the ground had been his plan from the start. But his belt has been taken away after the crash and with it all his other pokémon. And now he was in a losing position, there was no foreseeable way he could get out of this alive.

He couldn't decide if it was a better choice to just take his chances in the air.

The ring of earth surrounding them was knocked down again as the skarmory came in from another side, this time it's whole head was shimmering silver and metallic colour as it collided into an unprepared _Smaul_ pushing him back but not knocking him down. A gout of water pierced into his leg just as he was about to smack the bird once more stopping his attack.

Although they weren't able to match his raw attack power they were whittling down his defences with speed precision and practiced teamwork. Each time the rhydon was close to building enough defenses around them to protect his human and go for the attack, the skarmory would take the opportunity to head in and attack. And before Rhydon could properly get a blow on the skilled bird, he would be impaired by the numerous attacks and bindings of the other pokemon. It was hell, and it was both tiring and demoralizing.

But _Smaul_ had a place on his neck rather than on his belt for a reason. _Smaul_ would break before he would bend, he was a rock.

Rex felt his heart sink as on the fourth attempt at breaking through the wall, the Skarmory finally managed to score a hit on _Smaul's_ head. It took _Smaul's_ back step as a faltering and drove in more and more attacks on the upper body. The attacks from the other pokemon had all but stopped by now whether from exertion or reverie Rex did not know. Now it was just the two armored beasts smashing against one another.

Fear for his friend clawed at Rex and a misstep on the part of the bird never came no matter how much Rex wished for it. Instead it seemed like it picked up the pace, now more frenzied in its attack as it saw weakness and cracks even more openly in it's opponents defence.

 _Smaul_ fell to the ground with a dull thud, knees collapsing from the exhaustion of movement even under the repeated attacks of water type moves and bindings of grass types. The skarmory dance backwards, ready for one more leap. But it was already finished, Rex could see his friend had no control over his legs whatsoever, it was over. It was over and he couldn't do anything about it.

The young boy finally decided to step in now that _Smaul_ was completely incapacitated. He walked across the battlefield,walls of earth several meters high had been torn down and crumbling around him, making his way towards a broken Rex who was on his knees.

"You aren't an average courier are you?" he asked, the gleeful expression still littered his admittedly handsome face. "I had half a mind to join in but then i wouldn't have gotten to see your rhydon kick so much ass. I should have asked to go one on one with it now that i think about it." a wistful expression to over him then.

"But now i have to kill you, atleast you didn't go down without a fight old man, it's a lot more than most can claim to do… mostly because… well no one can claim much after they die can they"

And with the same gleeful expression the boy tore his throat, a gurgling choke his only reply.

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 **A/N**

 **Well, this is my first chapter in a hopefully fun series. Please review and tell me what ive done wrong or anything that annoys you. Even the smallest replies are appreciated. And of course follow and favourite it because inspiration is always appreciated.**

 **Fair warning if you haven't gotten the gist of it yet, this fic will earn it's M rating, there's going to be a lot of violence.**

 **Next chapter will feature our actual protagonist and other characters of the story who will have more than a one chapter run and it will also be a bit longer.**

 **Feel free to ask any questions and ill answer them to the best of my ability.**

 **Thanks.**

 **P.S how does one use "it's" and "its"**


	2. The Town of White Beginnings (12)

**Thank you to everyone who took the time to follow favorite or even review the previous chapter. I hope i have improved sufficiently in the past few days to at least show my appreciation to you guys and not disappoint.**

 **I do not own Pokemon.**

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Ash

Snow… Ash hadn't really been acquainted with snow much. Sure, as a kid he had wanted to build snowmen and make snow angels like everyone else his age but he had thought he would do so in some different part of the world as a travelling trainer. He had not expected for the snow to come to him.

Pallet was covered in a white blanket. Out his window he could see the houses, the streets, the stores, the forest not too far away from the town's grounds all with wife capped tops. Even the resident professor of the town had not been spared. His lone windmill had snow atop its towers and the usually glimmering tiles atop his two storeyed lab building now shone a different colour of pure white. The harbour he knew was frozen too, boats of varying sizes were indefinitely stuck until someone would thaw them out. He couldn't imagine what would be happening to all the farmsteads a couple miles out of the town.

The past few days had been taxing to say the least on most of the people in the small town. Mild winters and hot summers was the norm in this region of Kanto. So the houses were not made to protect from the cold, Ash had had to sleep under layers of clothes and multiple blankets for the past three nights, just to keep from shivering.

Waking up to a clearer sky had lightened his mood to some degree but he still held that dread in the back of his mind that the weather from the past few days or so was going to lead to a postponing of the last of the trainer's proficiency tests.

"Ash," his mom called from the living room downstairs, filling the house with her cheery voice "It's time for breakfast honey." A clatter of plates accompanied her proclamation and ash knew he she was already trying to cheer him up.

He got off of his bed, feeling the cold creep through his body as he discarded his warm blankets. The news had said that the weather near pallet would be returning back to normal in less than a week, and he would have to pack all these back into the store pretty soon.

His eyes went to the bag resting at the bottom of his bed, it was something that he had bought weeks ago while in the peak of his excitement over travelling the world. A hint of excitement crept over him once again at that prospect. He had waited years for this, another few days or weeks were not supposed to get him so down.

"All done with your morning routine honey?" His mother asked pleasantly, while spreading butter on a golden brown piece of toast.

"Yeah, the water was a bit cold though." he said, climbing down the stairs layers of clothes on him. That made his mother smile, and he took it as encouragement that she wasn't as mad at him anymore.

The first day of captivity in his own house had been tense and filled with too much misplaced anger. He later realised how much of an insensitive idiot he had been, but even now he had a hard time apologizing. Instead he was just trying to be extra considerate in everything.

"Umm.. isn't there snow blocking the door? Should I get the shovel?." Ash knew he wouldn't have to. "Oh don't be silly, _Mimey_ can handle it" came the usual reply from his mother.

But Ash wasn't just doing this to please his mother, it was that too but he also did it to give himself something to do for the next half an hour, he wasn't due to the laboratory till 9:00 and that was still hours away.

"Naah mom, I'll handle it this time. Say, did professor call about the trainer's test today?"

His mother's mood dropped a little at that, "Yes, about that... Ashy-" he knew this wasn't going to be good. "- the professor told me that no one's going to be meeting the Pokémon today, it seems the storm really panicked them and a few even got sick." The egg in his mouth was starting to sour at that.

"He did ask you to come over and help him with more of the machinery though, and something about treating some of the injured Pokémon."

"Did he say what time?" Ash asked, concern rising within him.

"As early as possible-" she realized her mistake and turned towards an Ash scarfing down his food with renewed vigour "- hey eat your meal properly young man."

He drank his juice up in a single gulp, and practically leaping out the back window he rushed into the back house rampaging through the gardening kit his mother had all but stopped using, before finding a decent sized shovel.

Once again he transitioned from the back to the from yard only through the windows and got to work on the almost knee deep snow. The screen door had taken a beating, as had the delicate furniture that assorted their front lawn. The heavier double door behind the screen one had fared much better, and was almost looking cleaned up after he pushed off all the snow from their patio.

By this time, some of the neighbours were coming out of their hibernation as well. Mr Parker, who lived across the street from the Ketchum's looked to be in the happiest out of them all.

"Good morning mister P." Ash greeted with a wave, slightly out of breath after his physical labour.

"Good morning Ash. You didn't need to do any shoveling you know, mister Jones has been sending _Ramp_ around clearing up people's walkway." he said, approaching the Ketchum household, with a chipper feel to him.

"Aah, no. I'm sortof doing this to cheer mom up."

"You two get in a fight?" He asked somewhat knowingly.

"Yeah, it was because of being cramped up in there I guess." he gestured towards the house. "We're fine now though, nothing to worry about."

"Oh, well that's good. I don't expect her to be as crude as she is with us but i still fear for anyone who gets on her bad side." He said with mock fear in his tone, before laughing quite loudly, Ash was inclined to join in on it at least a little.

He didn't know how she was "crude" specifically but he had been around enough of the aides at the professor's laboratory to know that his mother was the one who whipped them into shape whenever the man wasn't around.

Apparently the laughter had attracted his mother's attention, because the moment they stopped, the door behind Ash opened up.

"Roche, why are you up so early today? The sun isn't even halfway up the sky." It seemed cooking had improved his mother's mood far more than he had initially guessed it would, she was practically being sarcastic.

"Oh, it's just nostalgia I guess." He replied without noticing the little jab at his tardy habits.

"You went out to Snowpoint less than half a year ago Roche." His mother deadpanned.

"Yeah, but the professor just worked me to death back then." he jokingly complained.

"Yes, and now you're restoring balance by coming to work as late as you possibly can every day." She turned her head towards her son, "And now my son, has to go in early because every other aide is probably trapped in their home and taking the day off"

"It's a lot more attention than anyone else gets at the lab. Heck, the professor only noticed me two years prior to my internship. He still calls me Ray sometimes." he said in mock dejectedness.

Ash noticed his mother's expression swelling with pride.

Ash didn't really think that was true, most of the time he was delegated grunt work. Shredding paperwork, feeding Pokémon, running to and from the convenience store buying chocolates for the professor's cavity inducing addiction. The last one wasn't very well known among his subordinates though. Sometimes, when he looked at the hungry gleam that took hold of the professor's eyes as he stepped into the office with a bag full of the sweet treats, he wondered if this was why he was kept around at all.

Other than that he would mostly just hang around near the pokemon all day. Most of them were the older wiser types, calm and collected even when Ash was around. The kind that had practice being gentle with even the most fragile of humans

His mom snapped him out of his musings. "Well since Ash is all done with his meal anyway," she looked towards him with slightly more approval than a few seconds ago "I'd have to eat alone with _Mimey_ , and that never makes for good breakfast conversation. Does French toast and some appelstroop sound good to you?" She said pleasantly, not even waiting for a reply as she turned towards Ash and with a quick hug, she waved her goodbye before walking back into the house.

No one refused a meal at the Ketchum household. The man shrugged at Ash, then rushed inside with an even more happy expression his face.

Ash left the shovel on the patio and began to make his way towards the tallest building in town. A full three storeys tall, with stone stairs climbing, the hill it was built atop of, it was the closest thing the town had to a landmark and the only reason you could miss it was if you were blind.

On his way he took the time to observe the snow again, he wondered why he wasn't as excited it about it as he should be. This was the first time pallet had received snow in decades and the first time he had ever experienced it. Most kids, even if they were his age should be playing in it and enjoying themselves. He laughed internally. His social inadequacies were probably to blame for that. He could count the number of people he liked having daily conversation with on one hand. Maybe if you added pokemon to that list you would use two.

A giant sign reading "Pallet Institute of Pokemon research" greeted him as he climbed the snow laden steps of the elder Oak's abode. He found a large humanoid figure in the process of clearing out snow from the walkway as he reached the top of the hill. _Chopper_ greeted him with the typical reptilian grin on his features as he deftly handled a shovel larger than Ash.

Ash had to wonder if it would have just been better if he let _Mimey_ handle the front door situation in the morning, the psychic type was incredibly skilled at using telekinetic powers and his mind was much more powerful than Ash's puny human muscles.

The big bruiser gestured him towards the door and Ash took it to mean that he was wanted inside. Once in, he saw that most of the equipment was lying about haphazardly and that there was almost no natural light inside except from the sliding glass doors at the entrance.

"Oh, Ash good to see you've arrived child" an aged and wise voice called alto him from one of the treatment rooms, it was the only one where the lights were still on.

"Oh professor, how'd you know I was in?" He asked back walking towards the fluorescent lights, the voice that answered growing stronger with each step.

"Well, call it an old man's instinct." the professor seemed to laugh gently at his remark.

When Ash entered the room, he was more than a little surprised to see him sitting on the floor with a little bulbasaur on his lap. He was applying what looked like a freeze heal on the grass pokémon's body. He also noticed that the only source of lighting in the room was from an emergency light.

"Is that one of the sick pokémon professor?" He asked, concern for the cute little starter leaking into his voice.

"Yes, but a little bit of some ice heal and some time in a solar should get him back to health." He said as he finished applying the last of the potion and let the pokémon walk it off. "I didn't call you here to help me treat them though, that's for another time, what I really need you to do is check out the power room in the backyard" he said looking a little sheepish towards the end.

"Backyard" was a loose term obviously, the professor had thousands of acres of land behind his building that stretched on to the coast. Obviously most of it was for pokémon and not personal property but still too massive to be called a "backyard".

"Ran out of power from the mill already professor?" Ash asked. That shouldn't have been possible if the only person who had been living in the building for the past few days was the aged professor.

"The mill seems to have problems I can't fix alone Ash." The professor replied seeming somewhat irritated about the subject. "It's the reason why I've had to prematurely put so many infant pokémon into pokeballs. The artificial heating in the building stopped working on the second night, and not everyone of the young ones are familiar enough with _Arcanine_ to cuddle up with him."

"So, the generator is our only option for now?"

"Yes, I trust that unless it's too seriously damaged by the storm you should be able to fix it. _Chopper_ has probably already cleared away the snow from the area as well but take him just in case." he said while bringing out another pokéball from a tray to the side.

"He seems to be busy at the moment, he's clearing some snow up front." Ash remarked, "I'll just handle it on my own."

He took the professor's silence as a sign of permission and went off, a spare emergency light and a small tool kit in his hands.

The power room itself was quite a ways off. You could question why anyone would build a generator so far away from the building it was supposed to be powering. The professor had answered ash's query, telling him that the original plans for the lab had accounted for many more fields of study but due to a lack of proper manpower and interested parties they had to re scale it to appropriate for budget. Ash had accepted that reasoning back then but he still didn't like the fact that it had to be built nearly a kilometer out.

It was a smallish building, with no windows but sets of metal ventilation shafts to it's side and back along with a slightly squarish roof.

Ash slid his ID through the detector at the door and after confirming his identity it unlocked itself.

Ash turned his light on to appraise the situation, and it was horrible. The generator was the first thing that came into view and it was completely savaged, it's wires and power cables had been destroyed and the body was all that remained.

He soon found the culprit as he turned his light towards the corner where he heard a weak whimper come from. A small yellow form lay weakly on the floor of the room it was clearly not in very good condition.

Ash dropped his tool kit immediately and rushed to the injured pokemon's side. It seemed even more panicked by his light though, and he quickly shut it off. He couldn't really see any physical injuries, so he tried to turn the creature over.

The Pokemon shocked him though as it literally shocked him. Ash momentarily froze stiff as he felt his entire body move uncontrollably fast, all the while he knew he was still in his stiff stationary position.

He breathed hard. Recoiling away from the small shocker as he touched his chest, feeling his heartbeat what he felt was a million times a second. Looking around, everything seemed to look fuzzy, and incredibly well lit all of a sudden. The pain came next, the worst he had ever felt in his life, like every blood vessel in his arms had suddenly been split apart by a needle.

For all that, he was incapable of screaming.

If the pokemon could shock him, then it was most certainly still alive. His years of handling pokémon came into effect, and in the back of his mind he knew he would do all he could to save it. He had to get to the professor, the man would know what was wrong with it.

He got up once again reeling from the aftereffects of his near electrocution and turned to the small figure only a few meters from him. It was breathing faster than before but they were pained breaths not necessarily healthier ones.

Ash got up to run towards the professor's office but a part of him just couldn't, a part of him told him to carry that pikachu and get it to safety, a part of him told him it would die.

So he picked it up, and immediately he experienced what felt like a million needles pressing through every potential of his being, for a couple seconds he didn't know what was going on. Then his eyes unfocused and refocused once and he felt like he wanted to hurl. He got out of the building just in time for another outburst of electric energy from the tiny monster and again his knees almost buckled under him.

Although he knew somewhere in the back of his mind that this was a bad idea, the adrenaline coursing through him screamed obscenities at the rational part of his mind and he pushed on. He could see his legs plodding through the snow at fast jog, the little body of the yellow pokémon shaking with each leg put forward.

Halfway to the lab he realized the horrific shocking had stopped completely and his worries resurfaced even though the expectations of feeling shocked submerged. All he could do was plod on, hopefully faster than before.

The first new sensations he felt were the feelings of being lifted off of the ground, his two feet made completely useless in favour of muscley arms under his knees and his back. And the gently rocking back and forth as he moved without using his body.

He had resigned himself to closing his eyes thinking it was over, but when he heard the voice of Professor Oak and possibly one other person he forced himself to open them once more. They were hazy though, and he could only pick out the silhouettes of the two men. One was clearly the professor with his long white coat and grey hair, running towards him with an indistinguishable look on his face. The other man was even hazier all he could discern were his imposing height, as he towered over the pokémon professor and and his incredibly audacious hair colour.

Pikachu was taken off of his arms and the professor personally had him lain down on an operating table. He took it as the chance to relax, and promptly let unconsciousness overcome him.

He woke up with a pain in his stomach that Ash realized as hunger. Rising up was difficult, his entire body protested the movement but it gave him a better view of his surroundings. The tube lights at the opposite ends of the light blue tiled walls. The open windows let in rays of sunlight Ash hadn't seen in almost a week. It warmed the atmosphere of what was otherwise a very minimalistic room.

A crushing hug encapsulated him, knocking out what little breath he held inside his lungs still held.

"Ash, don't you ever do that to me again! You had me worried sick."

The hug turned a little softer now, more bearable and comforting. He returned it to the best of his abilities.

"I thought I'd lost you, even if the professor told me you were going to be fine." She still held him tightly, and Ash was about to ask her to let him breathe when the door opened, revealing a slightly shaken up Professor Oak.

"Good." He said, calming himself down before approaching the bed.

"Delia, you seem to be strangling the poor boy."

His mother let go of him at that, but still held on to both his hands. He wanted to wipe the look of worry in her face, the pain and fear, the tiredness and bags underneath her eyes that made her look older than she actually was. He wanted to apologize.

"I'm sorry Ash." She said first, little fragments of relief untangling the wrinkles on her face.

"I'm so-" a fit of coughing plagued him as he felt like his throat wanted to jump out of his mouth, as if it were burning inside of him.

The professor walked to his side, "It's all right Ash don't try to speak for now, you still need to rest."

"You look fine of course but on the inside, there's still a lot of healing that needs doing." He adjusted the saline bag hanging beside the bed.

Healing? What type of healing? How long would he have to heal? What happened to the pikachu? Did he save it? What day was it? How long was he asleep? What happened to the trainer's tests?

His eyes were getting wider and wider, the professor seemed to catch on to the boys thought process though. He held up the clipboard in his hand to where Ash could see it before taking it away and explaining it himself.

"The shock or shocks as I now know had damaged your hands the most, next in line were your arms and then the rest of your body. The burns were dealt with as soon as possible but then the real challenge came. Your internal organs suffered just as much, if not more and we had to directly apply ditto cells into the heart, lungs, stomach, kidneys and your intestines before they started to get better. Your voice box however is going to require smaller doses because we don't want to risk over mutation in a relatively low priority organ. Regular ditto cell application after meals along with calcium supplements will do a much safer job."

"You do need to understand-" He began with a slight grimace "-that not all of your body's capabilities will return as fast as you'd like, for example the nerve endings in your hands are going to take some getting used to and you might not find them extremely cooperative at first."

The professor dropped his professional tone then, returning to a more familiar one, "I'm sorry Ash, the league contacted me and I had to organise the finals for the 'Trainer's Proficiency Test'," Ash was getting more disheartened each second "however, I've already organised for you to get your trainer ID anyway." Ash's head shot up towards the professor the question _**how?**_ clearly present on his face.

"Having the leading professor of three different fields vouch for you doesn't harm your chances Ash." Ash would've hugged the man if he could've gotten to him.

"Now Ash, I know you want to leave as soon as possible but the doctor, even the professor are in agreement that a few more days of bed rest and then a few more days of rehabilitation will be necessary before allowing you to head out anywhere." His mother said, tightening her grip on his hands, and for a moment he wondered if she would hug him again.

The professor was nodding to it and Ash knew arguing to this would get him nowhere.

Ash made a show of two long ears on his head while turning to the professor. "Aah yes, the pikachu, it is doing just fine ash, I'm actually stunned you would ask about it, I don't know how much you remember the events of events but you've been out of it for three days now. The pikachu in that time has healed fully. It was suffering from electric fever, an overload of his electric pouches most likely caused by the consumption of too much energy. We discharged his stores as soon as possible. I take it he was the one causing problems in the power room?"

Ash nodded.

"Yes, the young specimen did have an extreme excess of electrical energy and holding it all in must have been hell on earth. On top of that, it seemed to have suffered from multiple backlash shocks from attempting to release it."

 _ **It wasn't in full control**_ Ash realized.

"Professor, I think Ash needs more time to rest, all this information is overloading his brain"

"Of course not he can clearly under-" the professor blanched under his mother's glare, leaving the room with a sheepish look on his face.

The tired look on her face seemed grow more vivid than before.

"Mom," he croaked out in a quieter volume "I'm- " more coughing ensued.

His mother visibly winced as he struggled with the words, "It's all right Ash, I shouldn't have expected any less from you."

A slight smile worked it's way into her features, although it wasn't a happy one, it meant she wasn't going to be angry with him at least for now.

"Hush now, you can't spend your energy on talking, you'll need to recover as soon as possible so you can get your journey started."

He felt his shoulders get heavier as his mother closed the curtains of the room, creating a warm comfortable darkness.

"I'll be right here Ash." she said coming back to his side.

This time he steeled himself well enough for say "sleep".

She took on a bittersweet expression "I will."

Most of his motor skills were untouched, he could walk just fine, and although most of his body was sore and uncomfortable from the multiple days of stagnation he didn't really feel any unusual pains.

The professor clearly hadn't expected him. Ash wasn't sure if the man was fully invested in the reproachful look he had adopted since he dropped it near instantly, waving him into the office while clearing some of the papers on his table.

The professor's aides had all visited him during his semi hospitalised situation on the third floor of the laboratory building, mister P especially had visited even when Ash had been moved back home. The professor though.. well this was the first time they had met after Ash moved back to his home almost four days ago.

"I wanted to talk to you about starting my journey."

"The usual starters aren't ready yet." The professor stopped him in his tracks, all the while still fidgeting on his papers. "The newest eggs haven't hatched and won't hatch for nearly a month, and even afterwards I wouldn't be comfortable sending you out there with a baby Pokémon to protect you." He found what he was looking for, and with a flourish he set the paper in front of Ash.

"That doesn't mean I won't get you a starter though." The professor paused, as if unsure now that Ash was giving him a skeptical look, lost on what the professor was doing.

"In fact, I was going to introduce it to you as soon as you arrived here. Shall we go?"

The professor brought him to one of the larger pokéball storing rooms before picking out what seemed to be a random one.

"Now it's a bit feisty but nothing you can't handle I'm sure."

White light flashes for a second from the release of a pokémon and Ash was greeted by a pikachu- no _**the**_ pikachu. It seemed a bit rocked from the experience, unsteady on it's legs for a second before gaining its composure.

It stared at the boy with something akin to curiosity.

Ash kneeled down on the floor, offering up an open palm to the aforementioned creature.

The pikachu approached him, cautio- no, it wasn't caution more along the lines of maybe apprehension.

Ash was perfectly still till the very moment Pikachu climbed on his arm and he got ticklish. Ash saw the professor smile as he giggled like a child licked by a poochyena. Pikachu was inspecting each part of the boy, scurrying over him until settling on his shoulder, eyes resting on a smiling professor.

"For some reason it still amazes me when you do that."

"Do what?"

"When a trainer meets their starter for the first time it's very rare for them to just accept each other like old friends. Not to mention, I was ready for the little rascal to be at least a little more stubborn with you."

Ash was still looking at the pikachu on his shoulder, staring at his clean yellow fur, looking incredibly fluffy.

"In any case you two seem to really like one another so at least there's no issue in that department. Go get that paper I showed you in my office, I'll be downstairs with your other stuff."

As met the professor in the main room of the lower floor, the place he knew to be where most trainers received their starters. He got around the desk, placing the paper in front of the professor, the pikachu still perched atop his shoulder.

"Good good, you'll need to get that signed by Delia."

Ash nodded. Still unsure what the professor could still be fumbling with once he put the pokédex and pokéballs on the table.

"Now, I know most trainers only get their pokéballs, starters and a pokédex to start their journey off. You didn't really get a standard starter even though you've completed a much longer internship course than most people."

"A lot of people would consider that unfair, compared to bulbasaur, charmander and squirtle a pikachu isn't all that sought after" Ash hadn't thought about this at all till now. He knew it was true to some extent. Pikachu's evolutionary line weren't known to be the same powerhouses the others became but it hadn't come to his mind until now.

"I know you're not the type of person who thinks of Pokemon in terms of how much a pokemon can deal damage or how well they can weather attacks but it is an important part of being a trainer."

"I know how battling works professor." Ash recalled the hundreds of hours spent mulling over highlights of old league matches.

"Every teen knows how battling works Ash, but some people no matter how hard they try can't make pokemon battle. It just isn't in them to see pokemon get hurt."

"You think I can't battle" Ash was a little annoyed that the professor knew him so little, but he knew he really shouldn't be.

Since the day he had joined, the lab had swallowed him up, maybe that was why he never showed his love of battling in here before. In front of all the people who worked here, ever devoted to the pursuit of knowledge, he had been maybe slightly embarrassed.

"Your connection to pokemon is rare Ash, I would be surprised if you weren't capable of co-operating with them in any field of choice." Ash was used to his mother singing his praises, usually for even the smallest of feats, but the professor was another beast entirely.

"I just want you to consider, maybe after this journey when you come back to Pallet again, to try for something more than an internship here." the words stunned Ash enough that the small orb the professor threw at him actually hit him.

He regained his composure, turning down towards the ball so as not to show the smile on his face that wouldn't go away. This was unbelievable. But he couldn't get side tracked.

"Yeah.. i'll think about it professor." He said, picking up the roughly marble sized orb on the ground. Pikachu sparked his cheeks a little at that and Ash looked at the electric mouse with curiosity. "What's gotten into you?"

"As expected, pikachu already has an affinity towards the object."

"What is this thing professor?" Ash asked "Is is a thunderstone?" a new reverence for the object claimed him as he examined the orb with renewed vigour.

"Nothing that special my boy, just a gift from me to take along with you on our journey, i don't fully understand it yet but something told me you would want it"

He wasn't going to turn down a gift from the professor of all people, so he put it into his pocket, as safe a spot as any for his case.

"Of course you know what this is-" the professor handed him the pokedex "-it already has your information stored in it, along with a good deal of starting credit and lots of useful things for you to study. Now these pokeballs aren't anything special but for the first few routes i'd be surprised if you need anything much heavier."

Ash nodded to that, taking the pokeballs gratefully from the professor and adding a few to his belt, additions to the side of Pikachu's marked one. The rest along with the Dex went in his backpack. He knew that until he got to Viridian there wasn't much in the way of a variety of pokemon he could capture.

"Have a good journey Ash."

It was the first time Ash had shaken hands with the old man.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **i was hoping to cross the 10k mark with this chapter but it felt like i was dragging it along too much. i sincerely apologize for the lack of any real action scene or battle although i guess thats normal in the first few chapters of any pokemon fanfic unless they make you roll on the floor with laughter.**

 **if you noticed i have a cover for my story now, its possibly one of the coolest things ive ever seen and if you wanna see more you should check out the artist here:**

 **this one is his deviant art but he doesnt use that much anymore.**

 **this is his tumblr.**

 **The next chapter is sure to have some action please do tell me what i've done wrong and i will correct it. any grammar mistakes any character inconsistencies or anything else please feel free to tell me about them.**


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